Coventry, 1988:And so it came to pass that John Cook, Simon Peacock and Bez, bored and with little to do (they were, after all, students) decided to form a band. And why not? They each had a few musical skills: Bez had prodded at keyboards in a band before somewhere up North, John had provided some skins to his school-mates, and Simon was just getting to grips with his tuning nuts. Student grants were a little more generous back in those days, and before long the band had equipped themselves with a 4-track cassette recorder, a drum machine, new guitars and limousine rides to and from the local drinking establishments, where Bez would invariably get John into fights with Rugby players. Initially the tracks were from Simon's Red Book of Songs, a tatty schoolbook full of teenage angst and surreal poetry. PC Thompson 619, In a Lay-By (Late At Night) and Postcard From Coventry were early crowd-pleasing classics. A few weeks later a colleague of Bez's appeared to steal the band's Tizer. His name was James A Bostock, and he too had a Big Book of Songs, but his had a hardback cover, so he was immediately taken on board. They began recording with re-nude enthusiasm, and the band called themselves Aiken Drum. Nobody knew why.Albums so far:The Chocolate Biscuit Tapes (1989)Postcard From Coventry (1989)AD90 (1990)Days Like These (1991)Previously Unreleased (1992)Nine (1995)A Young Persons' Guide To Aiken Drum (1997)Live Bootlegs (1998)Aiken Drum (2000)2000AD (2000)Evolution (2002)...And Another Thing (2004)Sweetmouth EP (2006)Slap/Dash (2007)